<div>I have prepared several DAR applications for clients and myself. In my estimation the documentation in the beginning was poor, however, it really depended on the patriot. In one case, an entire book was written about the family and accepted as evidence by the DAR. This would never happen today. This book was notable to me because it was obvious that the writer had actually traveled to every courthouse and repository herself while writing it. Due to her research in the early 1900s, I was able to easily follow the trail and was able to quickly provide the client with an application for a new line of descent.</div>

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<div>As DAR approached their hundredth anniversary they seemed to be going through the documentation for each patriot to determine if he/she actually was a patriot. One of my best case studies was a follow up to a patriot that was tagged as questionable. The client, a DAR member for years, joined as a result of descendency from this ancestor and they could not remove her membership. However, there were all those other family members that wanted to join and she wanted the problem straightened out. Not only did I discover that her ancestor was not an actual patriot, but an entire chapter had been formed under his name. It was a <em>not </em>so simple case of the names the same. I don&#39;t think anyone from the &quot;real&quot; patriot&#39;s family had joined and I discovered that the SAR had the two mixed up also.</div>

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<div>When you send in your ten dollars for someones application, you get just that. No documentation is attached, so whatever was written on the application is what you have. Since privacy has become such an issue, they have us writing, &quot;b, m, d&quot; &amp;c on the applications. In fifty years when ladies are requesting applications, seeing &quot;b, m, d&quot; is not going to be helpful. What you can end up with is lines with b, m, d and lines with member numbers and then the service of the patriot. Nothing is there to help you find the way.</div>

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<div>The records that they have put online are helpful and are a way of overcoming this problem. A simple review of a couple of patriots in my family gave me information about a cousin and her husband (both deceased before 1940) and the simple fact that she was a DAR member came as a surprise. I was also able to immediately look to see if anyone had gone in on my client&#39;s ancestor&#39;s brother. I was able to tell that none of the descendants knew about this well-documented soldier. This might make for a good article some time.</div>

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<div>The information they have provided is going to save me, my clients and the chapter members that I help time and money.</div>
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<div>Rondina</div>
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<div>_______________________<br>Rondina P. Muncy<br>Ancestral Analysis<br>2960 Trail Lake Drive<br>Grapevine, Texas 76051<br>817.481.5902<br><a href="mailto:rondina.muncy@gmail.com">rondina.muncy@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://www.ancestralanalysis.com/">www.ancestralanalysis.com</a><br>